


Close your eyes and I'll be on my way

by StormXPadme



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Casual Sex, Cuddling & Snuggling, M/M, Naked Cuddling, Oral Sex, Rivendell | Imladris, Sailing To Valinor, Third Age
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:14:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29373678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormXPadme/pseuds/StormXPadme
Summary: The morning before the Fellowship leaves Imladris, Legolas says good-bye to his lover.
Relationships: Elrohir/Legolas Greenleaf
Kudos: 18





	Close your eyes and I'll be on my way

**Author's Note:**

> Created out of a tumblr meme of writing prompts; prompt: “My nightmares are usually about losing you.”

“My nightmares are usually about losing you.”

It took Elrohir a while before he could talk again instead of clinging to Legolas’ body in a death grip, shaking all over from whatever he had seen in his dreams.

The trembling was in his voice, too, and Legolas found, he hated the sound of it. This was not how this was supposed to go. They were here for the escape, for the occasional comfort, for relaxing after an especially lossy battle or orc hunt, not for emotion, neither of them was ready for at this point in their life.

That was the _deal_ , and it was a _fight_ , for both of them, keeping their hearts under lock and key whenever they found a chance to sneak out in the middle of the night under their father’s critical glance, just for a little fooling around in the other’s bed. While it was not forbidden, what they were doing, it was rare and difficult enough without any critical intrusion from the outside.

Complications in that affectionate but very loose relationship of theirs were the _last_ thing Legolas needed in a night before leaving for a suicide mission. He should get out of this bed this very moment and leave his lover alone before this could turn from pain to trouble. The sun was about to come up anyway, and he had no interest running into Estel, probably sneaking back from his own nightly adventures in Arwen’s room to pack before the Fellowship would leave.

Instead, he found himself carefully unbraiding the raven, soft mess that the dream had left Elrohir’s hair in and combing through it with gentle fingertips, a bit of soothing, circling pressure on his lover’s scalp hopefully helping to chase away the thoughts of darkness behind his forehead.

”Says the elf who tracks down whole orc tribes and troll nests for sport,” he finally murmured against his lover’s sweat-covered neck when the shaking had subsided a little, and the tension was slipping from Elrohir’s broad back. “You hear me complaining when I get another letter saying they had to stitch up the next part of you?”

“That would be difficult with you being two weeks of travel away,” Elrohir commented dryly, but the intended smile was indeed tugging on his narrow lips. Better.

“Can you _stop_ trying to sugarcoat this? I can deal with orcs and trolls, and if another Nazgûl finds their way here, we have Glorfindel to kick their ass. You’ll be alone with a bunch of mortals out there, trying to challenge _Sauron himself_.”

Legolas feigned a one-sided shrug, trying hard not to show his own lingering doubts about this thing. Truth was, he would have been needed back home just as much as on this quest, and imagining not seeing his father again - not in these realms at least, if ever - was the one single thing that kept him awake about all this. But at this point, they had nothing to lose, really.

“You have the balrog slayer, we have a maia. I’d say we’re even.”

They had been at this point repeatedly in the last few weeks, and Legolas was tired of the discussion. He should catch at least another hour of sleep at least. He knew how he tended to get when he was being on a quest, especially in the beginning, and _being_ one of the two immortals on this insane thing, without the need for as much food or sleep as the rest of them, meant first and foremost little to no rest in the first few weeks. He couldn’t afford to show up at Imladris’ gate with shadows the size of Angrenost under his eyes.

His tender but brief kiss to a too-cold, bare shoulder was apparently enough to express all that because he wasn’t being stopped when he swung his legs over the bedside, trying in vain to figure out where the hell he had lost most of their clothes after entering this guest room last night.

“Just tell me why.”

He paused, with a deep sigh, just about to bend down to something he was _pretty_ sure was his left boot when Elrohir spoke up again, and it took him considerable willpower not to turn around, not to seek that sharp, grey gaze in the weak light of the only candle still burning.

This was an answer he’d been unable to give either Lord Elrond or Aragorn and he sure as fuck wasn’t ready to think about it now when he should be building up his mental strength for what was coming, not have it shattered by doubt and grief.

“Like saving the world isn’t enough?”

“I love you,” said Elrohir, and in the rasp that was his usually so smooth voice after choking on Legolas’ cock for half an hour last night, it sounded uncomfortably sincere for a second, “but you’re no hero. You’re a Prince, and a politician, you’re one of the best hunters I know and without you, the defenses of your home will be useless. But you’re not the one to sacrifice themselves for the good of all … Legolas, what exactly are you doing?”

“Looking for my balls. I could swear I’ve had them last night.”

“I’m being _serious_.” Frustratingly enough, it actually sounded like it. “You always only wanted to keep your people safe. What has changed? Why now? I think I deserve to know that much when they give me the news of your death.”

“You’re beginning to sound like you can’t wait for it. I haven’t even _left_ , ‘Ro.”

Legolas held up his hand in resignation before his lover could flare up. Fine. By now, it was probably too late to sneak past the Lord’s chambers anyway, and the last thing he needed his father to throw a fit about when he received his next letter from Elrond was his love life. Thranduil would be pissed enough about Legolas joining this madness against his explicit wish.

“You know, you’re not the only one whose mother is probably waiting for them in the west.”

Suddenly, it was a lot easier, staring at the fading reddened spots his teeth had left all over his lover’s neck and chest last night, absently tracing the leather band that held that certain lily-shaped locket always close to Elrohir’s heart, one of the few things, Celebrían had left her sons.

Legolas had no such thing, not even a fading image on his mind, and he was tired of pretending he didn’t care.

“You never wanted to go,” Elrohir promptly said, frowning not only in confusion but in sorrow and irritation. Legolas leaving meant the two of them parting, and probably forever. The twins had still not made their choice after all these millennia, and Legolas was beginning to think, they wouldn’t before either time or the destruction of this world would catch up with them.

Maybe it was the smoldering emotion in his heart especially for this one elf sitting here right in front of him, one that no rationality and no reluctance could will away, that had made Legolas realize in the last few decades, he that didn’t want to be around to watch that. Which didn’t change the fact that he belonged here, for as long as he could manage to escape the inevitable like his mother could not have back then.

“Wrong. I never wanted to _choose_ ,” he answered softly, two slightly agitated fingertips wiping away the tears from his lover’s cheeks before they could really form. “I still don’t. It’s not up to me whether I’ll be my father’s successor or my mother’s son. It’s up to fate, to the Valar, call it whatever you want. Unless ada changes his mind someday, I can’t have both, and I’m sick of feeling torn. If I fall, trying to keep this world from failing, at least neither of them can blame me for not doing whatever I could to be with them. I thought you of all people would understand.”

Elrohir could and he did, but he couldn’t tell him, he couldn’t give him this one blessing Legolas would have wished for most before setting out. So he answered in the only language they both knew how to use without misunderstandings and pulled him in for a desperate, longing kiss, shaking hands clenching down painfully in Legolas’ hair and on his lower back, newly forming hardness pressing into Legolas’ belly when he shoved his lover back down on the mattress. Maybe there was a better way to spend the twilight of the morning than sorting his arrows once more after all.

The twins weren’t around when the Fellowship left Imladris behind, but Legolas hadn’t expected them to. They’d said all they needed to.

It was only when he rummaged in one of his belt pockets for some resin later that day that he found Elrohir’s locket that his lover must have slipped him before he’d left the room, in a spot where Legolas would stumble upon it too late to even consider bringing it back this instant.

It looked like he had one more reason to try and return home safely after all.


End file.
